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UNE medical student’s Learning by Living experience featured in ‘Concord Monitor’

July 01, 2014

David Drozda is lifted onto his bed at Pleasant View Nursing Home

BIDDEFORD, Maine

On June 29, 2014, the Concord Monitor published an article on UNE student David Drozda, who recently completed his first year in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Drozda, participating in the Learning by Living program, created by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., director of Geriatrics Education and Research, spent ten days living in the Pleasant View Nursing Home in Concord, New Hampshire, where he lived the life of a stroke patient.

The project aims to give future healthcare workers a taste of what life is like for nursing home residents in order to better prepare them as informed and compassionate healthcare providers and to dismantle stigmas associated with older adults.

“Taking the time to get to know your patients as people, not as their diagnoses, can strengthen trust and help you to better assess their overall condition,” remarked Drozda. “Especially when they’re at their most fragile or vulnerable states, it’s important to affirm your patient’s dignity and to be aware of how your demeanor affects their experience.”